[Sigia-l] Netiquette

[Alexander Johannesen]

 Skot Nelson <skot at penguinstorm.com> wrote:
> my ex-wife used to as "why" a lot.

Dear me; I actually ask 'why' a lot ... saving a few projects along
the way because of it. :)

> by this i mean that i would answer her question, and then she would
> simply say "why" this would cycle endlessly.

There is nothing wrong with a few good 'why's, but yes, there is a
point at which a good 'why' becomes a trolling 'why'. I have small
kids who does this, though, not my most sensible wife. :)

> this was a form of trolling, and is similar to a lot of discussions
> that happen on the list.

Why?

> i just think it's important to realize that trolling doesn't have to
> include a blatant invitation for aggressive comments, it can involve
> gentler forms of goading people's sensitivities.

It's not hard to agree with this, but I think we also have to look at
what sort of list this is; we're often dealing with stuff where a
small semantic difference make all the difference, where the
difference between data and information is wafer thin but really
important or the difference between HCD and ACD means something to a
process somewhere. :) Not only are these things important; they impact
the very work we're doing right now!

You may not believe this, but the "data vs. information" thread gave
me significant insight into a perticular nasty discussion between an
academic and a roll-your-own hacker just last week. If we can, as HCD
people, have such a discussion, no wonder similar discussion creep up
everywhere else, although the main difference would be that we
actually *care* about those stupid little semantic differences.

I personally enjoy an intelligent discussion of things seemingly
unimportant, mostly because there is always stuff to learn, new angles
to ponder! Maybe posts in the future should be labelled 'practical',
'theory' and 'joke' and so forth ... :)


Alex
-- 
"Ultimately, all things are known because you want to believe you know."
                                                         - Frank Herbert
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